A Jump Back in Time
by TPDot Writer
Summary: The only way Alex can think of to retrieve a lost item is to go back in time to when she last remembers seeing it. But what she finds there brings up events that her memory lost for good, that change her life forever. JALEX.
1. Justin in Trouble

**A/N:** Hey, people. I wasn't expecting to take so long to post my second story, sorry for that, but I had a few set-backs. Mainly, it took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I had to erase an entire chapter of the story, a chapter I really liked, by the way. But it was more causing problems than moving the story ahead, so it had to go. Still, it was hard. And then I had to write a new chapter to connect things. Anyway, it's up for you all to read it. Oh, and again, if you find any major grammar crimes, let me know. Hope you people enjoy.

 **A/N 2:** Quick update, people. **The rest of the story is up**. All the chapters are posted and **you can read the complete story**. Just so you know I've never had the intention of not finishing the story, it was just my poorly expressed intention of delaying the upload of the final chapters. Sorry for that. Now, go ahead and enjoy it.

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Chapter 1 – Justin in Trouble

It has been two days, complete forty-eight hours of peace and quietude in the Russo household. Something like this only happens when Alex and Justin make an effort to avoid each other, even to ignore any attempt of contact.

Right now, Alex is in the living room going over her magazine while Harper finishes baking a pie. And Alex is not getting out of the couch until it is out of the oven. Harper's pie is a very good pie and she has to save herself a big slice before her father gets to it. She already lost a whole pie last week and this is not going to happen again.

But now she is bored to death. Her life has been so calm for the last few days, she hasn't even picked on Justin. It has been so long for Alex, too long without having fun at her brother's expense. Actually, now that she thinks about it, Justin has been avoiding her for some time. Where is he when she needs him?

Oh, yeah! Justin is mad at her for some reason. But it's been days now, she doesn't even remember what happened anymore. How dare he still be mad at her? She is the one who holds grudge in this relationship. … Not "relationship" relationship, just … friendly … sibling … whatever!

See what is happening? Alex is almost losing it, she has to do something. Then she hears some quick steps coming down the stairs. It's Justin. He comes running down to the living room, and starts looking around for something. Alex gets ready for some fun coming her way.

"Did you take Dad's old training wand?" He asks sounding a bit desperate and still keeping some accusatory tone, while looking around.

Oh, right! Justin is mad at her because he thinks she took their father's wand. It was with him when it disappeared. This is not the first time he asks her, and she always denied it.

"Justin, when are you gonna learn that not all your problems come from me?" Alex shoots right back. She is so ready for an argument.

"The day it actually doesn't happen?" He retorts with evident good point.

"Funny!" Alex replies with sarcasm. "I didn't take Dad's wand."

Alex was sure Justin was going to keep yelling at her and demand the wand back. Instead, he runs down stairs and leaves her and Harper alone. Alex is angry now, and also frustrated because he left. She wants a real fight.

"Did you take the wand?" Harper asks her. Oh, she knows her so well.

Alex looks at her and slowly brings a smile. "Of course I did." She calmly answers, keeping her emotions well guarded for when Justin comes back.

"You know, he looked really desperate." Harper points out.

"Harper, he always looks desperate when he is in trouble."

"No! He may be in serious trouble this time. I think you should give it back to him." Harper tries to reason.

"I will … If I remember what I did to it."

"You don't know!?" Harper asks, aggravated.

"Well, I'm sure I had it some time ago. But that's been months." Alex clarifies.

"Well, but at least you know you took it!"

"Yeah! I mean, probably!" Alex answers.

Harper rolls her eyes but she is so not in the mood to take this further.

Alex sits on the couch and patiently waits. Harper just gives up, as she has done many other times when Alex was about to do some wrong.

Several minutes have passed and Alex is still waiting. Then Justin finally comes up the stairs. He gets straight back to looking around.

"Justin, don't you know any spells to bring missing things?" Alex will tap her own back later for that idea. That will totally clear her from any trouble for taking the wand.

"Don't you think I've already tried that? It didn't work!" He yells.

WHAT! Alex jumps on the couch. "What do you mean it didn't work?" No! A great idea like that cannot be wasted. This is not fair.

"I don't know!" Justin yells. "It's like it has disappeared from existence." Suddenly he stops and gives Alex a mad stare. "Or it's locked under a protection spell." Yes, he totally means she did it.

"Don't look at me! I'm the one who always forgets to do it." Alex defends herself.

Justin grunts and continues looking. Suddenly he stops and stares away, thoughtful. "Max's room!"

He runs for the stairs the exact moment their father, Jerry, comes down. "Is that Harper's pie I smell?" He stops when he sees Justin. "Oh, Justin! Have you found my wand already?"

"Sorry, Dad! I looked everywhere."

"Fine! Give me your wand." Jerry demands.

"But Dad…" Justin only tries.

"Give me your wand!" Jerry tells him with a stern tone. Justin takes his wand from his back pocket and gives it to him. "No magic until you find the wand." And Jerry keeps going down stairs. "Harper, save me a slice of pie!"

"Sure!" Harper yells as Jerry disappears.

As usual, Justin runs his hand through his hair, desperate to find the wand. He goes up stairs, probably to keep looking in Max's room as he said. And Alex is still frustrated, but seeing that he is the one in trouble this time gives her some satisfaction.

"See? Justin is in serious trouble." Harper points out again.

"What else could I do?" Alex tries to defend herself.

"Tell your father you took it. That would help him."

"It doesn't help ME!" Alex replies.

Harper stops for a second. She crosses her arms and stares at Alex, a mean stare with disconcerting penetrating eyes. The stare keeps going… and going… and going.

"Stop it! You're creeping me out!" Alex complains.

"Okay! Let me put it in terms you'll understand." Harper starts. "If Justin finds out you actually took the wand, he will be really mad at you. So let's say that you end up doing something you can't fix, and we both know that will happen eventually, Justin is not going to help you even if he gets his wand back, so you're gonna have to tell your father. Then who is gonna be in trouble?"

Alex's mind plays the situation, her eyes bulging in a scared stare. "Fine, I'm gonna look for it." Alex runs to her room. Going for the obvious, it must be here somewhere.

Alex is sure she took the wand, she can even picture it in her head, herself grabbing it in her room. Only thing is she doesn't actually remember how that played out, or what she could have done with it. However, she knows that, at some point, she had the wand with her. For a whole hour, surprising as it is, she looks around for her father's old training wand. And it is not there. If she took it to hide from Justin, it should be in here. But it's not.

Alex sits on her bed, tired and defeated. This is why she doesn't help people, it only makes you feel bad when you fail. Then, after a few minutes, Harper comes up, looking for her.

"Have you found it?" Harper asks.

"No! And I literally looked everywhere. I have no idea where it could be." Alex complains while Harper comes in and sits by her side.

"Give it some time. It will come to you." Harper tries to calm her, wrapping her arm around her best friend. "You know what works for me sometimes? I try to remember the last time I'm sure I saw it and where it was. Sometimes it helps me to remember what I did to it later."

"Okay!" Alex answers with a slightly dejected tone. She is not even in a mood to argue.

Harper rubs her arm trying to encourage her friend for trying. "The pie is ready. Let's go down and eat a slice before your father finds it."

Alex agrees and the two go back to the living room, taking a long time eating their slices and talking. They just chat for some time, and it helps to clear Alex's mind. Then it comes to her, just like that, it simply jumps to her mind.

"I remembered. I know when it was the last time I saw it." Alex tells Harper with renewed excitement.

"Great, let's go look for it, then." Harper says, ready to help her friend.

"No, no! I have a better idea!" Alex jumps up.

"Oh, no!" Harper whines with her excitement dying out. She is constantly scared about her ideas, they usually involve magic and lead to problems.

Alex takes Harper's hand and pulls her all the way up to her room. There, Alex goes to her dresser.

"I just remembered that I was going through my art magazine last time I saw Dad's wand. I'm pretty sure that I had just bought it. I just have to find it and look at which month it is." Alex explains while going through her collection of magazines stored in a drawer.

"And what does the month has to do with anything?" Harper guesses.

"That's where my idea comes in."

"And what would that be?"

"Just a second. FOUND IT!" Alex yells and turns to her friend, smiling.

"Okay! What's the plan?" Harper asks, not very excited about it.

"The magazine always comes out the same day. Now that I know the month I can go back in time and take the wand." Alex keeps smiling, even when Harper's face brings out total panic.

"Are you kidding me? That's the best you could come up with?"

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." Alex tries to assure Harper.

"Alright? If you remember last time you've tried that, I got stuck in the past and Max completely ruined the 'high-five." Harper panics.

"You don't need to come. I'll go alone, take the wand and bring it back here."

"You, in the past, completely unsupervised. Yeah, that will go well." Harper

"Stop complaining, Harper. You are the one who wanted me to help. This is me, helping." Alex tells with an annoyed tone.

"Couldn't you help like Justin does?" Harper has to try, it is a friend's thing to always do.

"Since I spend most of my time ignoring him, I have no idea what he would do. And I couldn't care less."

Alex goes out, leaving Harper behind, and goes to the lair.


	2. A Jump Back in Time

Chapter 2 – A Jump Back in Time

Alex enters the empty lair, immediately starting to search for her father's Time Machine and finds it poorly hidden on the back of a cabinet. She quickly sets the date, but before she pulls the activation cord, she realizes that there is a big possibility of finding herself there, or worse, finding someone else of the family. If only there was a way of not being seen!

Then it comes to her mind, just like that, a spell that she doesn't remember seeing anywhere, but she remembers it. The reason why she knows it … let's face it, it's so like her to need this one.

"What I am doing, no one can come between. Keep me unnoticed, unable to be seen." She charms, pointing her wand at herself. The wand glows but she cannot notice any difference. Well, she is going to find out anyway.

Alex pulls the cord to activate the Time Machine. A vortex forms around her playing a weird animal sound, and when it unveils, she is still in the lair. Quickly she hides the Time Machine, in a better place this time, and leaves the lair. This hiding spell is better be working.

Outside, in the SubStation, her father and mother are working as they do every day. As she goes through the crowd unnoticed, Alex smiles on her way to the stairs, now aware that the spell works. If only she could remember where this spell comes from. Well, this is not important, she has to go to her room and find that wand so she can go back as soon as possible.

Alex gets to her room and starts looking. It has to be here somewhere, so her first attempt is in her usual hiding places. The box under her bed with Justin's favorite things from his room, the back of drawers, it isn't there. Then she has to look in other places, she looks everywhere in the wardrobe, in every drawer, in every box and she cannot find it anywhere. Then she is forced to stop before she can find anything when she hears something from the hallway.

The door opens and past Alex comes in, closing the door behind her. She goes straight to the full body mirror to check herself out. It feels so weird seeing herself this close. In a second, when this feeling goes away, Alex finally notices what her past self is wearing. She has to admit it, she is looking gorgeous, a very sexy outfit, and matching make-up. Okay, this has to be for some date, only thing is, she has no idea with whom that would be. Past Alex takes her magazine and sits on the bed, as if she is waiting for something.

Things could not possibly get worse. How is Alex going to look for the wand now? Well, things do get worse when Justin storms in the room. Great! What now?

"Did you see my wand?" He asks. Okay, that rings a bell.

Justin drops his father's old training wand over Alex's dresser and starts looking for his. That is it. That's what she remembered about seeing the wand while reading her magazine. She knew she had seen that wand. Maybe Justin took it to help him finding his wand.

But, no! Wait! Alex doesn't remember this. What is just unfolding in front of her, this never happened.

Hey, and Justin is rummaging the entire room, and she is getting annoyed to see that. So why is past Alex so calm?

Only now past Alex gets out of the bed and calmly walks to meet Justin. "Maybe I can help!" Past Alex offers with a very relaxed tone. And Alex notices it, even if keeping that playful tone, she is being genuine.

"Good! Look around that side of the room, then." Justin asks.

What the hell is going on in here? This not only never happened, but there is no way Justin would come in and start looking around like that with her approval. Why isn't past Alex screaming at him for barging into her room.

Past Alex takes Justin's hand to make him stop and look at her.

"I mean…" Past Alex says flirtatiously. "…I may need an incentive to remember where it is." She pulls him to her, hugging him to keep him close.

Future Alex freaks out. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Alex gawks at the two in front of them, and witnesses Justin smile back. They lean closer and kiss each other, on the lips.

Alex can only scream to the top of her lungs. She runs out of the room, and down the stairs, and all the way down to the lair, where she takes the time machine and returns to her time.

Alex arrives in the lair, with her legs wobbling like jelly. She refuses to believe that what she just saw really happened in her past. She sits on the recliner chair… well, she actually drops herself on it. Both of her hands cover her face in despair, she is actually panting. The image of her and Justin kissing refuses to leave her mind. She brings her legs up and hugs them. This cannot be happening.

Alex stays in the same position for a long time, making her best to calm down, repeating in her mind that if she doesn't remember, it never happened.

At some point, Harper gets worried about Alex's disappearance and goes to the lair to look for her. When she gets in, she finds Alex on the chair.

"Alex!" She calls for her. Alex almost jumps off the chair.

"Dammit, Harper!"

"What are you still doing here? Why haven't you came up?"

"I just needed to clear my head." Alex tells her, but there is no way she is getting into details.

"Are you alright? Did you take the wand?" Harper asks her.

"Dammit! No! I forgot." Alex answers with disappointment.

"You had one thing to do. How could you forget?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Alex says, very serious.

Harper brings a smile on her face, for what came to her mind. "Really? What happened? Did you run into an old boyfriend?"

"EW, Harper! Gross!"

Okay, Harper doesn't understand, but she respects her friend and lets it go. After some struggle and a lot of complaining, she convinces Alex to go up to eat something for lunch. When they are coming out of the lair, Justin is serving tables. Alex freezes when she sees him, gawking at him.

"Alex, where have you been? It's your shift, you should be here. Max had to fill in for you." Justin says.

Alex just runs upstairs, and Harper goes after her.

"What was that all about?" Harper asks when finds her in the living room.

"Just let it go, okay?" Alex says going to the kitchen.

Harper finally notices it on her tone. She really is upset. Whatever Alex saw in the past, it was too much for her, too much to accept. So she stops bothering Alex about what happened and Alex has her lunch, silent the whole time. Harper has never seen her like that.

In the afternoon, Harper goes out with Zeke. She thought that, if Alex doesn't want to talk to anyone, leaving her alone would be the best for her. Worse time ever because now that Alex is alone she cannot stop thinking about what happened in the past. She tries to go on with her day, she even gets her things done, but she can't forget. Throughout the day, she does her best not to run into Justin, and when she can't avoid it, she just runs away. Justin gets a little suspicious, considering the wand thing, and even tries to run after her to find out what is happening, but Alex runs into her room and locks herself in.

There are lots of things Alex would not care about, but this one she has to understand. If this was a part of time they have forgotten, she has to know why and who did it, and especially who would be demented to make her and Justin a couple. That because someone did that to them, she would never do that to herself.

Alex refuses to believe that past she witnessed can be real. That could only happen if … okay, now she is getting somewhere. She just remembered the You-niverse mirror, where everybody believed everything she did was right, in an alternate universe inside the mirror. Maybe what she witnessed was someone's alternate universe where they were not siblings. And, as disgusting as it can be, they started dating. Well, if there is a person other than Justin who would know this answer is her father, maybe he can help her.


	3. So Hard to Cope

**A/N** Okay, people! Got more of the story for you. After those, there are only three chapters to the end. I'm giving it the final tweaks. Well, to the story, then. 

Chapter 3 – So Hard to Cope

Alex opens the door and takes a peek to be sure Justin is not around, only then she goes out. She walks around looking for her father, he will know if something like this could have happened.

After looking around the apartment, Alex finds her father inside the lair, preparing the next magic lesson.

"Dad, I gotta talk to you."

Jerry stops and gives Alex attention. Alright, he is a little worried because usually she looks for him when she wants something or when she is in serious trouble. But he is going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Another one. Okay, now that he thinks about it, he has given her that benefit too many times.

"Yeah!" Jerry answers.

"You know the alternate universes created by magic?" Alex questions.

"Yeah, you mean like the You-niverse mirror … Which you broke, by the way."

"Dad, get over it. But no, I mean more like when you make a spell that alters reality … like when I made the Wild West for Mr. Laritate."

"Oh, okay. Yeah. What about it?"

"Can you end up in one of them when you travel back in time?" Alex asks sheepishly.

"You took my time machine again, haven't you?" Jerry shoots right off. "I said you cannot use it unsupervised."

"Dad…" Alex whines. "It's important. Is it possible?"

Jerry grunts, but answers her question. "Fine. Not if you weren't directly affected by the spell that created it. If you don't remember being there in the first time, you are not going to see it if you go back in time."

"Nooo! That can't be right! Are you sure?"

"Yeah! This is how these spells work for wizards in training. You should know these rules."

"Dammit!" Alex turns around and starts walking away.

"Honey, is everything okay?" Jerry calls her.

Alex doesn't stop, but yells back. "Of course not!" And then she is out.

She goes back to her room. There, she finds Harper waiting for her, finally back from her date. Alex looks at her clock and realizes how long she stayed in there alone. Actually she stayed there for hours.

"So!? Did you get your father's wand yet?" Harper asks as soon as Alex closes the door.

"That's what you wanna talk about? Aren't you gonna yap about your date with Zeke?"

"Hey!" Harper interjects, actually a little hurt. "I don't yap about my dates with Zeke."

"If you say so!" Alex drops on the bed. She is so tired remembering about her and Justin, especially now that there is a chance for that to be true.

"But seriously, what are you gonna do about the wand?" Harper insists.

"The usual, I guess!"

"If you mean wait until the problem goes away, that will get Justin in even more trouble. You know how much your dad likes that wand."

But thinking about going back in time again is not a happy thought. She doesn't want to see that again, it is already hard enough to wipe that out of her mind after seeing it only once. Doing it again is too much. Alex doesn't want to deal with this anymore, she doesn't want that scene in her mind when she closes her eyes.

Harper takes the hint, that Alex doesn't want to talk about it, that this is not the time to deal with this.

"Fine!" Harper says in a weary whisper. "I'm gonna go get ready for bed." And Harper leaves Alex alone.

The approaching time to go to bed also brings to Alex the fear that the image of that kiss will keep her eyes open. And it does for some time, but she is so exhausted that she blacks out, eventually.

Up for a new day, Alex gets ready to go down, and to face any feelings that may creep its way to her mind when she sees Justin. And, so, she goes to the living room to have breakfast. He is there already, eating on the table. Alex doesn't even want to look at him. She goes to the kitchen, serves a plate with a few pancakes waiting over the stove, and a glass of milk. Instead of going to the table, she sits on the counter and starts eating.

From the table, Justin peeks at her with the corner of his eye. At some point, Alex peeks at him just the same, but turns away quickly when their eyes meet, and covers her face with her hand. Justin noticed how weird it was yesterday when they met in the SubStation, after she left the lair. When he gets up to drop his plate in the sink, the way she covers her face with her hand is even more suspicious. Maybe it has to do with the wand. But he has no time for this. He has to go up, study a little bit, spare some time to take another look around for the wand, and then help in the SubStation.

For a long time, Alex again stays in her room, going over the situation again and again, to try to put some sense into all of this. She just can't find the strength to leave her bed. For a couple times she fights really hard to hold back tears that threaten to fall. Everything is different, is so confusing to feel all that she is feeling. Now she knows that some part of her accepted to be feeling for Justin more than their natural siblings' "love", and that goes far beyond what she can conceive.

She doesn't know what to do. The idea that she and Justin could even consider becoming a couple, whatever it was that started it, is beyond her comprehension. That they disregarded the fact of being siblings alone is already puzzling. And when she considers the way they have always treated each other, with all the pranks, all the sarcasm and heated exchanges, all the fights through the years, they have never been close, at least not emotionally. Sure, despite all, she loves Justin, and she knows he loves her too - wow, even thinking about the word 'love' seems strange now - but this goes beyond any rational thought.

Alex keeps telling herself that would never happen now, that she does not have that in her. But deep down, there is one shred of doubt that keeps her from relaxing. She knows that it happened once and since she has no idea how it started the first time, she cannot prevent it from happening again. How could they risk everything like that to be together? They risked the entire family, and now not even the memory of it remains.

After Justin finishes his shift, Alex takes over just after lunch. Her father keeps pushing her into attending the clients, but her head is so lost that her mother ends up taking over and she is put to cleaning duties, which she also barely manages.

Harper had planned going out with Zeke in the afternoon. She wanted to stay, but Alex insisted that she should go. Alex wasn't trying to be nice, she just didn't want Harper asking her what is going on.

When dinnertime comes, Alex stays quiet. Seeing Justin beside her is so stressful. She battles between telling him and keeping it all to herself. As for her parents, instead of asking why she is so silent, they decide to just enjoy the tranquility while it lasts, ignoring what is very evident.

But not Justin. He can see how troubled she is. It feels to him as if the Alex he knows never showed up. Every time she diverts her stare, every time she doesn't answer him, more certain he is that there is something big going on. She would not look so sad for no reason.

It may to do with the wand, mainly because he cannot think of any other reason for that behavior. Maybe she really took it and then lost it, and now that he is in serious trouble she feels guilty. No, Alex doesn't do guilt, not towards him, anyway. She would prefer to enjoy his misery and have a laugh at it. Maybe something else happened to her. Maybe something is bothering her.

After cleaning the dishes and preparing to go to bed, he takes some time to go to her room. Paying attention to the door, he cannot see any light from inside. Alex must be sleeping already. Still, he turns the doorknob and pushes it open to peek inside.

Alex is on her bed, sleeping he thinks. He will have to wait until tomorrow, and only wonder until he gets to talk to her. Not that he is going to lose his sleep over this, he is not 'biting his nails' worried. It is more like a curiosity. Not that he is going to let her suffer alone either. And what would be problem of being worried about her, anyway? He is allowed to be worried about her. He is allowed to miss her morning mood, to miss her pranks, to miss her trying to get him mad, and miss her cute smile when she gets it. "SNAP OUT, DUDE! And stop staring while she sleeps, you creep."

Anyway, he is going to help, he always does. But not now, apparently. So he lets her sleep and gets out.

But Alex is not sleeping. How could she with all this going on? Alex stays completely still until she hears the door close again. What she saw simply refuses to give her brain a rest. How can she be close to Justin without seeing them kissing? And then, here, in the solitude and protection of her own room, she finally cries.

And eventually, she falls asleep out of pure mental exhaustion.


	4. Being Alone Sucks

Chapter 4 – To Be Alone Sucks

During breakfast, in the next morning, dinner pretty much repeats itself. Justin is actually getting scared for her, now. He is definitely not letting it go. When they are done, he follows Alex upstairs and stops her before she gets the chance to lock herself inside her room.

"Alex, are you alright?" He tries not to be too invasive.

"Why are you asking?" She replies, still a little uncomfortable to be close to him.

"Come on, I see how bad you look. You walk around all depressed. You stay in your room a lot. What's up with you?"

"Nothing." She answers.

"Come on! It's not because Mom and Dad decided to ignored you to have some peace that I'm not worried."

"And why is that, Justin?" She asks with a lot of contempt.

"I told you, I can see how worried you are. And it probably has something to do with me, or you wouldn't avoid looking at me."

"Don't sweat it! The problem is already solved." She says turning around to enter her room. She meant about their erased memories, but of course he doesn't know that.

"Then why does it still bother you so much?"

She freezes. She cannot even turn around. What can she say to him? She didn't even know he got her all that figured out. For how long does he notice these things?

But Alex is not thinking straight, she feels like she is being cornered. So she angrily turns to Justin and harshly pushes him away from her. "You stay out of my life. It's not your damn problem. You did enough already. Take care of your own business. Go back to your pathetic life of worrying about school and wizard competition!" And she goes into her room.

Justin doesn't try to stop her. Maybe, if he gives her time, she will be more open to letting him help. Yes, her words hurt a little bit, but he knows she was just trying to hit him, and she knows how, but she doesn't really hate him. Actually, for some reason, there is some eagerness in him to help her, to make her feel better for whatever is bothering her, which is not normal for them. In the rare occasions when he voluntarily helped her, he has never felt this urge to see her well, to see a smile on her face.

Alex skips the lunch shift in the SubStation. While everyone works down stairs, she has her lunch alone to avoid any questions, then back to her room. She cannot stand thinking about it anymore, and the worst part is to be alone. Usually she is not one to need a lot of support, independent as she is, but there is so much to be afraid for. What would happen if Justin finds out? What would happen if the rest of the family find out? Or what if everyone else finds out, especially the Wizard World? And also there is the fact that they don't remember about it. Well, at least she doesn't. Who made her forget? Whoever it was, this person may know about them.

And now she also regrets the way she treated Justin. He didn't deserve that, he was just worried.

By now, the rest of the family has already noticed that something is going on with Alex, especially when Teresa finds her dish in the sink. Would that be something about Justin? Well, she will never get the chance to find out.

Alex cannot take it anymore. She regrets so much hurting Justin for no reason, just because she was upset. He did not deserve that, it isn't really his fault. She has to do something, make amends somehow. Okay, what she said wasn't the worst of offenses, but for once she is not happy about it.

Well there is one thing she can do.

Moments later, Alex peeks inside the lair and enters when she sees her father has already left.

She takes a spell book from a shelf and opens it over the desk, flipping pages, looking for a spell. And she finds it, just the spell she needed, one to make missing objects appear that she quickly memorizes. She is not going to lose that wand again.

Ready to get to action again, she casts on herself the hiding spell. Then she takes the time machine and goes back, luckily not long after she left the first time.

She drops the time machine on the desk and takes her wand.

"The wand that I'm missing, bring it here, right in this instant." She enchants, pointing her wand to the center table.

Easier than she could have imagined, her father's old training wand appears on the table. Damn! If she had thought about this spell earlier, she would have never gotten herself into this situation. Who cares what happened in the past, she just wishes she hadn't seen it.

Alex takes the wand in her hand, asking herself how one single item could have turned her life upside down. What is going to happen to her relationship with Justin? How is she supposed to be near him and not see that past image of them as a couple? Right now she feels like her whole ground has been taken away.

Then a noise comes from outside, laughs and giggles that she knows are from her and Justin. They must be coming in through the SubStation, and by the sound of it, probably coming from a date. Curiosity wins and Alex comes outside to check on them, and cannot help but watch them for a second. They play with each other and retell the funny parts of their date and the pranks past Alex pulled on people on the streets. Actually, even Justin seems to be enjoying, as he looks so relaxed and happy. Maybe dating past Alex made him a little less uptight.

Then they run upstairs, holding hands as any other couple, unfazed by the possible consequences of being caught. They leave Alex behind in the SubStation, just imagining what is like their life as a couple, and how they worked their differences to be together.

Alright, curiosity wins again. Alex decides to go up and look for them. She gets to the living room, they are not here, or anybody else. They are alone at home, this is why they were so relaxed. They must be in one of their rooms, so Alex goes up again after them. In the hallway, her room is the only one with the door closed. She tries to hear for a second but nothing, not a single sound. Okay, this is not good. Two teenagers, alone in a closed room making no sound at all, and she is considering going in. Damn you, curiosity!

Alex takes her wand and casts a spell on the door. She carefully reaches for the door and tries to touch it … her hand passes right through. The spell works. Alex moves against it and gets into her room … with her eyes closed. She is really not sure if she wants to see this. But when she pays attention, she notices she cannot hear any sound. No smooch or moans. Oh, crap, now she realizes how much she did not want to hear moans.

So she slowly opens her eyes to only see the most surprising of all the situations. Justin is sitting on her bed, leaning against the headboard with a book to his face. Past Alex has her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest with eyes closed, apparently sleeping. His arm rests on her back, lovingly caressing her with his thumb.

A big lock of hair covers half of past Alex's face, so Justin drops the book and gently pulls it behind her ear. She moves, waking up from her light sleep, then looks up at him with tired eyes.

"It's alright. Go back to sleep." Justin whispers close to her ear.

Past Alex brings herself up and pulls Justin down. They kiss, just a quick peck. Then she snuggles back into his chest and closes her eyes again.

Alex doesn't notice, but right now she gazes at these two in front of her. Alright, that kiss bothered her, but not the intimacy she just witnessed. She has to admit that they love each other. However, the mystery of what is happening remains.

Anyway, Alex traveled here with a purpose. And with the one required task completed, now comes the hard part. Back down in the lair, Alex uses the time machine to return to her time.

In there, she takes another moment to stare at the before missing wand, that she hopes will grant her forgiveness. Another deep breath, both wands stuck in her boot, and she goes out to face whatever comes her way once she tells Justin about everything.


	5. The Past Comes Out

Chapter 5 – The Past Comes Out

When Justin was done in the SubStation, he had his lunch in the living room and went to his room to have a study session about magic.

Now he sees Alex sheepishly coming into his room, and closing the door behind her.

She turns around, eyes down to the ground in her uncommon honestly guilty countenance. She reaches down and pulls the wand from her boot.

"YOU FOUND IT!" Justin's excited voice brings her out of her own head. When she looks up, he is already so close! She startles when he snatches the wand out of her hand.

She looks up at him, confused. Then Justin frowns at her. "Or it was you who took it?"

Alex shakes her head. "No! … I … Uhm!"

This is enough for him to believe her. He smiles and takes a step towards her in a clear move to hug her.

"NO!" Alex gives a scared yell, putting a hand on his chest to stop him. "Don't get any ideas!"

Justin stares at her really confused, while she rounds him, keeping her distance, and goes to the bed.

"I was just going to thank you!" Justin says,

"Yeah, keep your hands to yourself!" She sits on the bed with the same worried expression. "Sorry about what I said earlier!" She says in a much softer tone, a guilty one, without moving her eyes to him.

Justin walks closer and sits beside her. "No problem!" Simple words, still a big relief for her.

It was hard for Alex to decide she had to tell Justin what is going on, to realize she needs his help. But the way she was feeling, it was destroying her. It is risky to tell Justin about this, but it is all too much for her, she cannot deal with it alone anymore.

Alex takes a deep breath before she starts. "I found out something that I think you should see. There's something going on that I can't figure out, and I can't deal with it alone anymore. It's too much for me."

When Alex came in, Justin had a self-satisfied inner smile. Sure he made an effort not to show it, still he was planning to brag about how much she needed him, eventually. But he soon notices how troubled she looks. It is not something to take as a joke, she is really scared.

"What is it?" Justin asks with real concern.

"I have to show you, or you are not gonna believe it."

"It's starting to look really bad." Justin says, earning an enormous roll of eyes from Alex.

"Just come with me." Alex stands up and goes for the door, and Justin follows her. He doesn't say a word all their way down to the lair.

As soon as they are in, Alex takes the time machine. Justin has to say something. "You've been time traveling alone?"

"Chill, Justin! Dad already gave the disapproval stamp. We're not going back all that much." Alex drops the time machine on Justin's hands. "Just one thing before we go."

"What?"

"What we're doing, no one can come between. Keep us unnoticed, unable to be seen." She enchants, putting both of them under the spell.

"How do you know this spell?" He is really surprised that she knows this one.

"Uhm… I don't know." She tells a little embarrassed.

"No, really! Because I'm sure the only place I saw this one was at WizTech Library. And I'm sure you didn't go there."

"Not important right now, okay!" Alex sets the date on the time machine and pulls the cord before Justin can continue with the argument.

They are back in the past. Slowly, Alex guides Justin back up to her room.

"Now we just have to wait." Alex tells him.

Throughout their wait, the expectation is so hard on Alex, but not for what she is about to witness with Justin. That she and Justin were dating for some reason, she has found some kind of acceptance. But it scares her how hard he can take this. It will sure affect him a lot, but Justin has a history of being extremely hard on himself when he does something against the rules, and the one they broke is the mother of all.

Alex stares at Justin, imagining what he is going to do. She has to stop before her mind goes too far, things are starting to get too scary.

Finally, pasts Justin and Alex come in, holding hands. Alex cannot stop looking at Justin. She sees the reaction begin to form on him when their pasts sit on the bed as close as they can, fingers still intertwined.

"This one was too close." Past Alex tells Justin.

"I know. We cannot screw up like this again." Past Justin agrees.

Justin looks at Alex, confused. "What's going on?" She points to their past selves.

"I don't think we should stay together right now, okay!?" Past Justin says.

"You're right." Past Alex agrees. They look at each other for a few seconds and then they kiss.

Justin screams so loudly that Alex has to cover her ears. Then he runs out of the door. Alex rolls her eyes, she never thought he was actually going to scream. Alex doesn't follow him right away, she knows exactly where he went, the place he feels safe. She waits for past Justin to leave the room and head down stairs, then she goes to his room.

Justin is sitting on the floor with panic all over his face. His hands are on the back of his head. Alex sits on the floor in front of him and his eyes shoot at her.

"What… That… Isn't… What was that?" Justin stutters.

"Yeah, I know! I did the same!" Alex tells with a calm voice.

"They were… WE were…" Justin stutters again.

"I did that too. I mean it was just in my head, but…"

"I… I don't remember that. How could this have happened?"

"I don't remember it either. But somehow it did." Alex says with a firm voice, to make him understand it is real.

"How can you be so calm?" Justin asks with a very aggravated tone.

"I don't like this, but we can't both freak out. I have, already. That's why I've been so bad lately."

"… So, you've seen this before. I mean … us … them."

"Yeah!" Alex answers as if recognizing to have done something wrong.

"Why?" He practically accuses.

"Uhm… Dad's old training wand."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

Alex lets out a big sigh. "I was trying to find it. So I remembered when I'd seen it last, then I came back in time to get it and found that." Alex takes a deep breath.

"Oh, so that's why I couldn't find it. You took it. I knew it was your fault."

"No! It was your fault." Alex accuses him back. "I only took it because you couldn't find it."

"Right. Then you took it … from the past."

"Yeah!" Alex says.

"From the past… As in that's why it disappeared." Justin explains.

Alex looks at him, surprised, with bulging eyes. Now she understands why they couldn't find it, or even why the missing objects spell didn't work. "Dammit! Okay! Forget that. We have to find out what's happening here and why we forgot about it."

"Right. You know what they… I mean… How far did it go?"

"Far enough… Believe me, they are dating." Alex sits beside Justin.

"You mean we…?"

"Not gonna say that!" Alex interrupts him.

For some time, they just stay there, sitting side by side on the floor of Justin's room until he calms down. Until his heart is not trying to come out through his mouth anymore.

"I think we should go back to our time, now." Justin says.

"Okay!" Alex gets up right away and puts a hand out for Justin. He takes it and gets up. And what he feels by having her hand in his, this flutter in his stomach, it should never happen. It should not bring the image of the kiss he witnessed moments ago. Still, while they go down back to the lair, that moment stays in his mind. Even looking at Alex feels different now. In the lair, they use the time machine to go back.

Justin and Alex sit in there, together, just staring at each other for some time. Justin notices that Alex doesn't look very bothered by that scene.

"I'm surprised that you're not screaming and cursing right now." He tells her.

"I've done that…" Alex tells. "When I first saw it, I just couldn't believe it. I mean, how could WE end up…" It is still just too much for her to say. "They really seemed happy, though."

Justin looks at Alex, surprised that she can say this so naturally. "To be honest, I don't know what to think." He says.

"Well, I need your help to put some sense into all this." She asks.

"Have you thought that it could be some kind of alternate universe? One where we are not… us?"

"Yeah! At first. But since we can't remember what happened, it would mean that we didn't cast the spell."

"Maybe Max did." Justin tries to reason.

"But we are wizards in training. Everything would be reset to normal when the spell was over, and we wouldn't be able to see it by going back in time. Dad confirmed it." Alex tells, alarmed.

"Oh, right! That happens for wizards in training."

"Then I thought that maybe it was some kind of spell or potion. But I saw it happening for over a month." She tells him.

"It's a lot longer than any spell of that kind would've lasted." He mutters.

"I know. So… we chose that." She says with a deep sadness. "Even if it started with magic, we … they decided to stay together… Anyway, I couldn't find out exactly what happened."

Justin looks down with such a defeated expression, this thing is really hitting him hard. He shakes his head covering his face, in shame. He cannot believe something like this could have happened. Alex knows him well and she sees his state, she knows his mind must be in pain right now. But there is nothing she can say that would sooth what he is going through, because she felt the same when she found out. And Justin is not the kind of person who can just let go.

"Justin!" She tries to say it with her best soothing voice. "Maybe we should take some time. Nothing is going to happen if we wait until tomorrow to figure this out. Then we can start with a cooler head."

When he looks at her, his eyes are really red. He must be struggling not to cry. And that hits her very hard. It feels like her heart is being squeezed in her chest.

"Okay!" He agrees.

They both get up and start walking to the door, Alex taking lead. Suddenly, she feels Justin taking arm. A strong flutter takes over her, even before she can stop. Then she feels him pulling her.

"Alex!" He calls her.

Alex stops and turns around to look at him.

"I'm … I'm sorry!" He says.

"What for?" Alex look up at him, surprised by this unnecessary apology.

"I… I just…"

"Whatever happened, we both decided." Considering how he seems to be feeling, Alex has to try to tranquilize him. She really believes in what she said, and this is not the time to make any jokes.

Justin nods, accepting what Alex said. Then they leave the lair.

During the rest of the day, they avoid the subject, they even stay away from each other as much as possible. They work on their chores, help in the SubStation, they even spend some time with Zeke and Harper, but not together. Alex knows that if she gives it some time, Justin's head will make up something, he will think of something to do. So the rest of the day goes by and they go to bed, leaving the subject for tomorrow.


	6. Whatever it Is that I Need to See

Chapter 6 – Whatever it Is That I Need to See.

Alex could not stop thinking until she fell asleep, again out of exhaustion, and it still occupies her mind during the morning. All she can think of right now is that if she figures out how far back this… - how else could she call it, error, mistake, lunacy… , she will keep it at… - well, relationship goes, she may find out how it started, and then maybe she would not run the risk of letting it happen again.

Now is the right time. Her father is probably preparing everything to open the SubStation, he will not even notice her entering the lair.

She sneaks around the house, going past her mother in the living room. She gets to the SubStation and waits for a little while until her father starts cleaning the tables on the front. She makes it to the lair completely unnoticed. It is time to go. Last thing before 'lift off', she makes again the hiding spell.

"Oh, dammit! Why didn't I do it before leaving my room?" Okay, too late now.

With the time machine in her hand, she takes a deep breath preparing for what she will find. Then she pulls the cord.

One more time, Alex carefully makes her way from the lair up to her room. From what she has seen, her room is a very good place to find them together. While she waits, she takes her time looking around at all of her things, everything that she owns still in there. After who knows how long, she hears the door opening and sure it was pasts Alex and Justin.

"What could be so important?" Past Alex asks sounding just a little annoyed.

"Here! I have a spell for you." Justin takes a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to past Alex. "This is a hiding spell. Nobody will see you or hear you. People will simply ignore anything about you."

"What I'm doing, no one can come between. Keep me unnoticed, unable to be seen." Past Alex says in a low tone.

Now Alex is really stunned. That is why she didn't remember where this hiding spell came from. Justin gave it to her, of course he did. She might be the queen of sneaky, but surely he is the one with a library of spells in his head. If someone would find a spell like this, he is the sure bet.

Past Alex smiles to Justin. "Who is the sneaky one right now?" Just as they are going to kiss, steps coming up the stair interrupt them, forcing Justin to run away quickly.

Looks like nothing more is going to happen for, at least, some time. So Alex takes her wand and holds it in front of her. For a few seconds, she thinks about a spell, something to speed things up. Her mind sums up the words, combining into a rhyming phrase. "Whatever it is that I need to see, show me now, before I have to leave."

Her wand glows, shining everything around, forcing the time to move ahead. Outside the window, she sees the sunlight rapidly changing as the day advances. Soon the night comes, then the next day. It all speeds up and a couple days pass quickly. Then she notices the blur of two people coming inside the room and everything stops. Surely they are pasts Justin and Alex.

The couple is now on the bed. Alex is leaning against Justin's chest again. It looks like she really enjoys doing that.

Past Alex breaks the silence with an actually worried voice. "What if anybody ever finds out about us?"

"Maybe we can erase their memories." Justin suggests.

"Do you know any spells?"

"I'm pretty sure Dad has a book on memory spells somewhere."

"What?" Future Alex yells in surprise to no one from the door of her room. If Justin has seen the book, he definitely did not resist looking at it. How suspicious is the fact that Justin actually knows how to erase memories.

"I think you should find it and keep it. Knowing myself I'll probably screw up at some point." Past Alex says, laughing.

Justin pushes Alex off his chest to look at her face to face. "Alex, this is not funny. You have to be very careful."

"Relax. I'm just kidding." No, she wasn't, but she has to try to calm him.

"No, Alex. I'm not. Now that we've come this far, I … I can't be without you."

Both future and past Alex look at Justin in awe. Maybe it is his puppy-dog face that hits something deep in them, but they sure are touched. Then past Alex caresses his cheek with a smile on her face.

"I can't live without you either. I'm not gonna screw up." She kisses him.

It goes completely unnoticed this time, but this kiss doesn't bother Alex so much. Something is changing that Alex is not noticing.

The time speeds forward again. Looking outside the window, days go by in a matter of minutes as the sunlight flashes between days and nights. Time returns to normal speed, now at night.

Only the bedside lamp dimly illuminates the room. Past Alex is sitting on her bed. She wears a silky robe and has her hair tied back leaving her bangs falling each side of her face.

"It's night. Why do I still have my makeup on if I'm going to bed?" Alex wonders, looking at her past self. She looks beautiful, still very nervous.

Then she hears three faint knocks. Past Alex walks to door and opens it, careful not to make any noises. She pulls Justin inside and locks the door.

"What is so important?" Justin whispers before even looking back at Alex. When he does, the same nervous look now takes him.

Past Alex comes closer to him. Gently, she takes his hands, never looking away from his eyes.

"Now!?" Justin asks with some surprise.

Past Alex comes even closer, until their bodies touch. "I said I would tell you. And I'm afraid things might get harder, especially after today."

The couple hug each other. She takes a deep breath before looking up at him and kissing him, a very soft and sensual kiss.

"Oh, no!" Alex is getting a little scared. If this is going the way she is imagining, she has to leave now.

Past Alex takes one step back to slowly pull the robe off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. This is definitely going the way Alex is thinking. By the way, she has no idea where that underwear came from or where it is now, but it is really sexy.

Justin looks down at her amazing body, swallowing the lump in his throat. Soon their eyes meet again, and they hug each other as they start kissing.

Alex has to get out, she doesn't want to see this. Only thing is the door is blocked by the horny couple. Alex looks around looking for another escape route. There is no other door. She runs to the window and looks down, maybe she can jump, yeah, and break both of her legs. Maybe she can cast the spell to go through the wall to Max's room. Oh, gosh, Justin's shirt is already off. When the hell did it come off?

Justin picks Alex up and carries her to the bed. He gently drops her and lies on top of her, to restart making out.

The door is finally free. Without wasting time, Alex casts the spell on the door and goes right through it. The only place she can think of right now is Justin's room. She runs in and sits on his bed, hyperventilating. To get to calm down is a real struggle but, after a few minutes, she can breathe normally. And then, strangely enough, she sees the flashes again, the ones caused by days quickly going by outside of the window. She walks to it and stares outside, then after just a few days go by, everything stops.

Justin comes in and vigorously drops some book over the dresser. Clearly the spell is still working, and if the spell wants her to see this, then maybe it has to do with this book. She walks closer, just next to Justin. "Handbook of Memory Spells" she reads, surprised, the title on the cover. This must be it, the book with the spell used on them. And again, Justin has it.

He takes a deep breath, staring at the book with a deeply troubled expression, almost desperate. Alex looks at him, imagining what is going through his mind. He opens a drawer and shoves the book on the back, beneath all his clothes, somewhere it wouldn't be found for some time. He rubs his face, making Alex worried about him. He, then, angrily leaves the room, slamming the door shut.

Could it be? Could have Justin actually cast the spell on them? And more important, why would he? They seemed happy, very happy actually. By what she has just seen, they are really committed to each other. Only some catastrophic event would make him do this. Now she really is worried.

Alex finally makes her way back to the lair, ready to go back. With every step she is more certain that Justin did all this. The book scene in his room was more than enough to convince her. Time machine in hand and Alex makes back to her time.

She comes out of the lair, immediately looking for Justin. For no obvious reason, completely unaware of why, Alex is mad. To think that Justin had erased her mind makes her feel so angry. Maybe it is because he did it without her knowledge, or for deciding for himself what she should or not be. How dared he?

Anyway, Justin is not down here, so she goes upstairs. Not in the living room either. If he is still home, he must be in his room. As she stomps up the stairs, the anger she feels only strikes her harder.

When she gets to Justin's room, not even a steel door would prevent her from going in. She barges in, violently opening the door. And he is right here, beside the door, just in front of her. The second Justin looks at her face he notices the anger there. It is obvious that she knows something, some bad news, apparently.

Clearly not thinking straight, she slams the door shut, not caring who might hear. She rushes against Justin, hitting his chest in a fit of anger.

"What did you do to us?" She questions in rage.

"What are you talking about?" He asks, worried about her and what could cause such a strong reaction.

"You did this. You made us forget." She yells.

"What!? No, I… … I don't know. I mean." Confused, he can only stare at her, calculating how sure she looks. "How do you know?"

"I traveled back in time again." Her eyes are so red. But why is she so upset? "I saw us talking that if anyone ever found out about us we could erase their minds."

"So what?" Justin interrupts her before she can continue. "That doesn't mean I actually did it."

"I saw you with a book of memory spells." She raises her voice. "And I saw very well on your face how guilty you were feeling. The only reason would be because you did it."

"Why would I do that? You said yourself that we looked happy." Justin tries to argument.

"I don't know. Maybe it was all your fault that it started." She says.

"Do you really think I would make you fall in love with me?"

"I don't know what goes through that head of yours."

"Of course I wouldn't!" Justin practically curses.

"Maybe that only happened because something you did went wrong, and then you made me forget so I wouldn't kill you when I got back to my right mind." Alex yells

"I'm not the one here with the history of screw-ups." Justin curses.

"Hey, that's not fair. You have screwed up, too." Alex shots back.

"You really think there is no chance in the world you would end up falling for a guy like me?"

"Not a guy like you, Justin … YOU."

For this one Justin has no response. Alex actually has a point. They both stare at each other for a few seconds. But there is something that only now occurs to Justin, that makes no sense.

"Wait. Why are you mad anyway?" He asks and Alex stares blankly at him, with no answer to give.

Just staring at Justin is not good, she has to tell him something. "Cause if you did it, you did on your own, without consulting me. And you cannot decide what I want or not." She knows that he did decide this alone, that he did it without asking her. But, being mad at him for it, this is not how she should feel. Sure that past Alex, the one in love with him, would never accept it. But now, could this mean that she still feel like making them forget was wrong?

"Bullshit!" Justin exclaims, bringing Alex out of her own head.

"What?" She asks, confused.

"You heard me. BULLSHIT! Now, you cannot be mad at me for making you forget. The old Alex could be, but not you."

Is he reading her mind? He cannot be that smart to know what she was thinking. "This is not about us being a couple, Justin!"

"The heck it isn't!" He says full of certainty looking straight at her. "You either think that was wrong, and forgetting was the right thing to do, or you think that forgetting was wrong, and would prefer to still be living that."

"Just shut up!" She yells at him. "Maybe something bad happened, like someone else found out. But you decided to erase everyone's memories, including ours."

Alex takes a second trying to analyze what she is feeling. "What I'm saying is that despite anything this doesn't mean that I wanted to forget just because I took a very bad decision…" Alex takes a second looking at Justin. "…just like telling you about all this was."

Alex turns around and angrily leaves the room, leaving Justin with only doubts about what is the worst part of this entire situation. Maybe hurting Alex so much. Maybe the guilt he feels for his part in this situation. Maybe losing his friendship with his sister. Or maybe knowing that something so bad happened that forced him to make everyone forget. Why would he do this?


	7. When Past Returns to Haunt You

Chapter 7 – When Past Returns to Haunt You

Days go by and none of the siblings make any attempt to solve their situation. They can barely look at each other, being together in the same room is torturous.

Alex can't take this anymore. The way things have been between her and Justin cannot continue for much longer. She has to admit it at least to herself that she misses him. She just wants her brother back the way they were. But, knowing what they know, how can they look at each other the same way? It may be impossible to go back to the way they were while they still remember. Maybe it was the right thing not knowing after all.

During lunch, Justin was so quiet, and worse, the entire time his expression was of sadness, one that she knows she caused when she decided to tell him, and made it worse after their fight. All of this because of a stupid wand. Now her relationship with him is scared for good.

But maybe she can fix it. If she can find again that book of memory spells, and find the right spell, she can make this go away. So, in the afternoon, while her father is working in the SubStation, Alex comes to him having made her decision.

"Hey, Dad!" She stars with a calm tone. It is so not her. "I wanna know if I can borrow a book I saw once in the lair. It's a book about memory spells."

Jerry turns to her with a very suspicious expression. "You too? Okay, what are you and Justin up to?" He asks, full of accusation.

"What? Nothing! Why are you asking?" She dodges.

"Justin just asked me for the same book!"

"What?" Alex yells. "And you gave it to him?"

"Yeah!" He answers.

Alex simply darts off to the stairs. How could her father do this? Can't he notice how bad Justin looks? Now she is scared.

Justin is so desperate that he can do anything. Right now he is completely unpredictable. Breaking any rule for him is distressful, and the kind of rule they broke, even if they don't remember, must be so painful to him, she can't even imagine. She has to get to Justin before he uses any spell without telling her.

She looks around in the living room. He is not here, of course he is not here. Why would he be? He would not be stupid to do this kind of spell in the living room.

Alex runs upstairs. There is so much that could go wrong. Thinking about all the consequences of what is about to happen, Alex can only see bad things in her future. Whether Justin is trying to remember or trying to forget, things can get bad. If Justin makes a spell to forget everything he saw, this means Alex will have to go through this alone, because there is no chance she would tell him again. And if he makes the spell to remember…

Alex barges into Justin's room again. He is standing on the other side of the room, the book in one hand and the family wand in the other, a green glow already fainting on its tip.

Then, as if a shock had struck him, Justin drops the two pieces in his hands. He bends down bringing his hands to his head, and lets out a growl of pain as he drops to his knees. When Alex sees the pain on him, she pushes the door, closing it, and rushes his way. But before she can get to him, before she has the chance to hold him securely, he falls back, hitting the wardrobe behind him.

"Justin, what did you do?" Alex yells, trying to make him notice her.

Justin yells again. Months of memories come back to him in seconds, everything that happened between him and Alex that the spell erased. The pain of seeing it all again, of all the emotions he lost, of all the suffering for giving her up also hits him like a truck in the most painful way.

"Justin, look at me!" Alex calls him again with the most worried voice.

This time it works. Justin slowly opens his eyes to look at her. When their eyes meet, Alex sees all the pain, all the angst that certainly don't express everything he must be feeling right now.

"Alex!" He murmurs her name, as if he can barely speak. The image of her so close, the concern for him evident on her expression, takes him back to the time when she accepted her feelings for him. His hand reaches for her face and caresses her cheek.

She sees it, now. Alex understands what he did. She takes Justin's hand moving it away from her face. "You made a spell to remember?" She practically curses him. How can he be so stupid? Why would he do this? Didn't he see that this could not only bring the memories back, but also the feelings? Shouldn't he be the smart one?

"Why did you do this?" Alex yells at him. She is so angry now, because what he just did affects them both.

"I just had to know what happened?" He whimpers, making an effort to bring out the words.

"There had to be another way, like a spell to show the past. This is so stupid."

Justin takes Alex's hand with both of his and pulls it to his chest. "Please, stay with me!" He cries, with tears starting to fall.

But this is so frightening, to hear Justin saying this. All the times Alex travelled back in time and saw their past selves together, the fact that she did not remember any of it allowed her to disconnect the people she was seeing from herself. But this is 'now' Justin, her Justin. It makes everything too real.

Alex pulls her hand away from Justin, falling back and sitting on the floor in front of him. "No!" She yells. "I'm not THAT Alex anymore. She disappeared when YOU erased our minds."

Justin cries again. "I know. I did it. … I did it." He manages to say in between sobs that he cannot control anymore.

"Why?" Not that Alex regrets it, but the reason may be important.

"I had to!" He cannot look at her, now.

"What do you mean?"

"I had to … because Mom and Dad were onto us." The pain in his expression getting even more apparent.

"How?"

Justin breathes deeply a few times to control himself before he can answer. "We weren't careful enough. I think they noticed how much time we were spending together. They never said anything but they kept getting us apart anytime we met. And the way Mom was starting to treat you, it was so hard to see." Justin takes a second to clean the tears on his face. "You said you wanted to face it, but I couldn't take that much longer. Then I caught them talking, discussing about sending one of us away. And that was it."

Alex is shocked. Thinking about it, she realizes that Justin preferred to forget about them, to lose her, instead of being away from her. Sure there must be something to do with breaking the family apart, but what a sacrifice he made. But the worse part, and a very bad part, is that now he can feel all the weight of the choice he made. And that part, how much he is suffering right now, it is all her fault.

"Justin, I'm sorry!" She says, genuinely heartfelt.

Justin looks back at her, surprised to hear her say that, and sure she has nothing to apologize for. He shakes his head in an honest sign of disagreement. "What for?"

"I should've never told you anything about this. I should've just let go, but I had to make a point that this would never happen. And in the end, all I got was to hurt you."

Justin doesn't know what to say. She is right, to some extent, but she also made him remember. And now he knows how wrong he was about erasing their memories. Doing that made him lose her anyway.

He pushes himself away from the wardrobe and scoots closer to Alex, sitting by her side.

"I should've never given up on us." He takes Alex's had one more time. "Maybe, now we could…"

"NO!" Alex yells and stares at Justin. "We can't … I can't … I can't do this." Alex stands up and leaves the room, not even a glance back at Justin.


	8. It Is Not Alright

Chapter 8 – It Is Not Alright

The next morning, Alex sits at the table. Her dish of pancakes for breakfast doesn't seem that special today. And it is not really a surprise that Justin doesn't come down to have breakfast with the family.

Teresa sits at the table and starts eating. And Jerry notices. "Wait, what about Justin?"

"I found his dish in the sink when I got here." Teresa explains.

"What was he doing up so early?" Jerry asks.

Only Alex knows that he probably didn't even sleep at all. She can only imagine how much he must have suffered during the night. Considering what she told him, it must have crushed his heart. But she did the right thing, what she had to do to start getting over this situation, if you can even say that. Is there a 'getting over' for something like this?

Justin simply doesn't show up for the rest of the day. For Alex this shows how much hurt he is.

Three days after, Alex has barely seen Justin since then, even though they are both home most of the time. They are in no mood for taking strolls, or going anywhere for that matter. By now their parents know something is up with Justin, but Alex convinced them it was better not to talk about it, and seeing her speaking for Justin in that way was enough to make up their minds.

The siblings have been taking alternate shifts in the SubStation, they at most cross each other while going up or down. At the meals, Justin eats before or after the rest of the family. Nevertheless, Alex is always there, waiting for him to look at her, to give any sign that things are getting better, but it doesn't happen. Even when they come past each other, he is always staring at the ground, avoiding any kind of more intimate connection.

Alex goes to bed again, one more day without Justin's company. Yes, she misses him. She misses him yelling at her when she pulls a prank on him. She misses him being a know-it-all, telling her what to do even when she doesn't want to hear. She misses laughing at him when she makes him angry. She misses him caring about her even when he is angry. She misses him being her brother. Tonight she cries for him, for how much she lost.

Alex wakes up late, it was so hard to sleep, to clear her head off of that pain. She comes out of the bathroom and there is Justin, walking to his room, facing the ground a split second after he notices she is there. Again, he will get past her trying to ignore her, but she cannot let him, she is so done with this situation.

She holds his arm, stopping him before he gets to his room. "Justin, please talk to me."

"I can't!" He answers right away, full of sentiment. "I can't spend time with you knowing that you don't love me anymore. It hurts too much."

Alex keeps staring at him, those hurt eyes of hers making a bigger wound in him.

"It hurts knowing that, at the end of the day, we won't have those few minutes alone that will make everything worth." He continues.

"This is your fault!" She accuses him with a tearful voice, but aware that part of it is her fault. And that hurts even more.

"I know. And that makes it so much worse… to know that it's my fault that I lost you. And I know it's for good."

"Justin…!" Alex says with a soothing voice.

"You gotta give me some space. You have to let me get over you. And then, maybe, we can try to be back at what we were. … I just can't right now. So, please, just stay away, alright!" He closes the subject before turning around and going into his room.

And, by the way, NO! It is not alright. She doesn't want to stay away, to give him time. She didn't do all this to stay away from him. Alex stomps back to her room, where she takes a few minutes to calm down. And only then she leaves to take her breakfast.

During the rest of the morning, Alex doesn't do much more than think about this situation. What she knows for sure is that she is not going to just watch Justin suffer. Not for her. There must be something she can do.

And soon it comes to her. Maybe, on the first time, Justin found the perfect solution. Maybe not knowing any of this was the right thing for them. What Alex knows is that she doesn't like how she is feeling right now, being aware of how much pain she brought to Justin. All she has been doing for the last few days is to care about him. But undoing this may take a drastic step.

Lunchtime comes and Alex is serving herself. This time only her mother accompanies her, while Jerry and Max work in the SubStation. And there it is one more time, a dish in the sink that can only be Justin's. For a few seconds, Alex freezes, staring at the dish, running in her head all that it means.

"He had his lunch, already." Teresa's voice takes her attention. "I don't think this is going to end so soon!" She lets out in a sigh. "This has to be about a girl. I don't see him like this since Juliet."

"Really?" Alex asks with a slightly scared tone. She knows how bad it was for him when Juliet left.

"Yes. But it's different this time. Maybe it's worse because, you know, second time."

Alex hasn't thought about that, but yes, this is the second time he loses a … dammit! … girlfriend … damn, this was painful … to an extreme situation. Her mother is right, it must be even more painful.

Alex had enough. Thinking about what her mother said takes her from being bothered to being completely mental. She barely managed to have her lunch, and now staying in her room feels just wrong. That's it, it is time for that drastic measure.

Alex goes to the empty lair. Again she takes the time machine, and sets a date to go back in time. The destination is the same day when she saw Justin hiding the memory spells book in his dresser. Now that is the only place she knows she can find that book because, in the future, Justin hid the it somewhere she wasn't able to find.

She arrives in the past, inside the still empty lair. With no time to lose, Alex takes her wand and waves it in the air, teleporting herself to the hallway, just in front of Justin's room. Carefully, she turns the knob and peeks inside. Great, he is not in here, so she comes in going straight for the dresser.


	9. One Kiss Away from Madness

Chapter 9 – One Kiss Away From Madness

Alex opens the drawer of Justin's dresser and desperately digs under his clothes, but the book is not there anymore. He can only have moved it to somewhere else. This cannot be happening. She needs the book, she needs to make Justin forget about them.

Frustrated about the book, she closes the drawer and leans her elbows over the dresser, rubbing her head. Taking deep breaths is all she can do to calm down.

"Hey!" Justin's voice startles her, coming from behind.

Alex turns around, scared. "Justin!" Only now she realizes she forgot to do the hiding spell.

"You look different." He states with a small voice. Is it good or bad that he noticed? "Did you do something?"

"Uhm!…" Oh, no! She has to thing about something to say. "No! Just a different make-up."

"You look more mature." He says, now with a more depressive tone. His head falls and his eyes aim the ground in a clear signal of his state of mind. Alex knows this face, he is really bothered about something. "Alex, I gotta tell you something."

"Not now, okay! I'm busy. We do this later." She tells in a caring way, trying to spare him a little bit.

But, when Alex tries to move away, Justin takes her hand pulling her back. "Yeah! I know we can't be seen together now. But, just listen for a second, okay?"

Oh, these damn red and teary eyes. Alex has to stop and give him attention. She cannot just walk away from him like that.

"I just need you to know that, no matter what happens, right now, I love you more than anything. Okay?" His tone is so sad. It feels like he is saying this to her for the last time.

"Justin, what…"

Then, Justin interrupts Alex with a kiss. Her whole body trembles. Her legs feel wobbly. And the kiss is amazing. Beyond her control, Alex kisses him back. It feels like she has lost any restraint, any barrier she created to avoid any feeling that could come. Kissing him feels so comfortable.

Then, something clicks in her brain. Alex pushes him away, breathing heavily. When he backs off, she just looks at him, stunned by how she is feeling.

"Go on." Justin tells her, unfazed by her action, as if already expecting for it. "Go do… whatever that was."

Alex can only nod, breathing heavily, her eyes cannot even move away from his for an instant. But she cannot stay here, not running the risk of interfering with the past. So, making an effort to move steadily, she starts to walk away, but then the memory of Justin's state makes her stop and turn back to him. She actually feels horrible for just leaving. "Are… are you alright?" She can only whisper.

"Sure! I'm fine." She knows him too well not to notice his lie. But she has to leave this problem behind. She cannot be here without the hiding spell.

Alex arrives back on her time, in the lair. She sits on the recliner, her heart is pumping hard in her chest, her breathing is heavy, she cannot control herself. The feeling brought by kissing Justin refuses to leave her. Her legs are still wobbly, she can still feel the pressure of his lips on hers.

Now it is so clear. Even though what she and Justin were together was completely erased from her mind, that the spell has taken away the part of hers that once accepted all that he means to her, the feeling for him is still there. As much as she has tried to tell herself this would never happen again, it took only one kiss to shatter the tough front she put on.

Alex doesn't know how this is possible, or even how this could have happened the first time, but she loves Justin. No, this is not it, she is in love with him. She could fight it, yell it is not happening, curse herself, but in the end, she would still feel the same.

What Alex witnessed in the past is the only memory she has of her relationship with Justin, everything they lived together as a couple disappeared after the spell. Still, it took only one kiss to bring back this feeling, to make her feel like they could be a couple again.

This emotion has already found its way in their lives twice. How many times they will have to go through this, especially if Alex goes through with the idea of erasing Justin's memory again? How many times they will have to suffer for fighting what they cannot avoid? Making it go away could only sentence them to go through it all over again. Making them forget would only hurt them more.

Oh, gosh! Alex is actually considering… she is considering giving in. But then, again, this is a decision she already made once, to accept to be with Justin. Is she strong enough? Can she take the risk of ruining everything, for them?

 **A/N** Not the end yet. It will be out very soon.


	10. The Courage for a New Begin

Chapter 10 – The Courage for a New Beginning

Late at night Justin is hiding in is room, reading whatever that is to keep his mind busy.

His door slowly opens to reveal Alex outside, staring at him sitting on his bed. Justin stares back at her, he thought she had understood that they have to keep distance, that he cannot take it being around her. But her face looks so distressful. She simply remains silent.

Alex comes in, closes the door and locks it. Then, for a few seconds, she just stands there, facing the door, one hand on the knob and the other splayed on the door.

"What do you want?" He cannot hold it anymore. Something weird is going on.

Alex turns around and looks at him for a second, a distressed face, rubbing her hands. Then she walks to the bed. With every step she takes Justin gets more nervous. She just doesn't say anything!

Then she sits on the bed, letting her back to him. One deep frustrated breath, she just has to find out if she can do this. She brings her legs over the bed, then scoots closer and leans against Justin's chest, exactly as she saw past Alex do.

"What are you doing?" Now Justin is the one distressed.

"Shhh!"

Alex stays very still, taking in the new feeling of being this close to Justin.

Then she pushes herself up, turning her head to the side. Her exposed neck is so close to him. It brings the memory of all the times she sighed when he kissed right there, resisting made too hard. He sinks his face just behind her ear, and she doesn't react, just lets him take her. He holds her arm to keep her close and slides down towards her neck. Alex cannot control herself when this sigh jumps out of her, the sense of Justin lips kissing her sweet spot is so maddening. Even if she tried now, she wouldn't have strength to make him stop. She just wants more. Justin's hands move to her waist. His massage on her skin sends chills all over her. How is he doing this?

Alex is beyond any self-control. She wants more, she needs more. This is not an experiment anymore, she really wants him. Alex gets up from him and turns around to look straight into his eyes. It is surprising to her, but it doesn't feel like her brother looking back at her. All she sees is the guy who kissed her, who made her feel completely out of control.

She straddles him, slowly leaning closer, laying her body on his to feel how warm he is, aware that she is almost as hot. Then she attacks his mouth, her tongue shooting right out to enjoy him. One arm of his wraps her body and the other hand finds her neck. Their mouths on each other are simply perfect.

Justin pushes himself up from the headboard bringing Alex with him, and places her on the bed, laying her down. She cannot do anything, she is too caught in the moment to react, even when he lies on top of her, kissing her again, first her lips, then going down to her neck. Dammit, the neck again. He really knows what he is doing.

He finally gets up. Her legs still around his body is more than just a sign that she wants more. He takes a second, looking at her, she doesn't take her eyes away from his. Then his eyes run down her body, the body he possessed before but now feels like brand new. Her breasts peeking up behind her braless top are so tantalizing. His hands enwrap her tiny waist, the small moves massaging her draws another sigh from her. His hands join on her belly and slide up, running over her breasts, then following her arms, now resting above her head.

Justin's face meets hers again as he covers her body. The temptation to kiss her again is overwhelming, but she faces to the side, eyes wide open and a quick and deep breathing. He stops, staring at her. There is something, a difference he cannot point, like a sign of discomfort that shows up as soon as she turns back to him.

Justin rolls off, lying beside her. He rubs his face in frustration, cursing the remains of integrity he still has left. He wants to go on, to know she wants to be his. Alex simply stares up, panting.

"Was this all a test?" He asks.

"No!" She answers with an intensity that lets out how wrong this question sounds for her. "I just coundn't…"

"What?" He sounds annoyed, now.

Alex takes a deep breath. She has to calm down. "I went back in time again." She takes a second before continuing. It is scary to say what she has to. "I went to your room to look for the book of memory spells. I was so out of myself that I forgot to cast the hiding spell. So you caught me in there, I mean the past you."

"What? When was that?" Justin questions her.

"You looked so sad. It was really scary… You took my hand and… you told me that, at that moment, you loved me more than anything." Alex turns her head to Justin, one single tear falls from her eye. She catches the shock expression on his face. "I'm sorry. That wasn't your Alex, that was me."

"That was you!?"

Alex stares back at the ceiling. If she was scared before, now it feels even worse what she has to confess. "When you kissed me, I felt something… I never felt like that. It was kind of disorienting, but it was… … great somehow." Alex says.

"You said this wasn't a test. You can't play with me like this."

"I wasn't playing. What happened to us… is still in here, somewhere. Even if I don't remember, the way it makes me feel when I'm with you… I wasn't testing, I just couldn't hold myself, because … because I like how it feels."

Justin sits up and looks straight down at Alex.

"Would you let me do it? If I hadn't stopped?"

The following seconds last so long, the time it takes for her to answer. This whole thing going through her mind, what she feels for him, how she felt just now, and the most important thing, should she tell the truth or not. Then Alex simply nods, still staring at the ceiling.

Justin cannot believe this, the answer she gave is the last thing he would expect, that she accepts him.

He rolls over her again, his hand running over Alex's belly, sliding to her waist. Their bodies close one more time bringing back the uneasy feeling of heat they felt before. She closes her eyes when her brain is taken over by the feeling of his touch. When she opens them again, his face is just in front of hers, so near, and she simply stares at him, waiting for him to do it, to kiss her again and make her feel the way she felt when he kissed her the first time. And this time she wants it, she wants to feel his lips.

Justin kisses her, slowly and tenderly touching her lips. In seconds the kiss goes from soft to passionate, from gently kissing to tongue searching.

However, as much as Justin wants to take this on, he knows Alex is still getting used to being with him. He stops and gets up, sitting beside Alex. She takes in a deep breath, coming out of the haze that takes over her every time they kissed. Justin takes her hand and pulls her to bring her up, having her sitting beside him.

"I know that you probably wanna take it slow." He tells her. "So what do you think about us going out tomorrow. Not an actual date, just have lunch together."

"To be honest, I can't remember the last time we went out together." She tells him.

"Yeah, that would be my fault." He smiles at his own joke, bringing a quick smile on her, too. "I just think we should try to spend some time together, without pranks or one trying to get the other mad. And I mean it." He completes.

"Okay! Fine! I'll do my best. But I'm telling you, I know it's gonna be hard."

Alex gets up from the bed and walks to the door, leaving Justin alone on the bed. She turns the doorknob and opens the door. Before leaving, she quickly looks back at him with a devious smile on lips and, in a second, she is out, closing the door behind her. Justin cannot stop imagining that this must have been the most real dream he has ever had. But no, this was real, it just feels like a fairy tale, where prince and princess lose each other to only find themselves again at the very end.

The rest of the night simply flies by for both of them. They don't talk about it when they meet for dinner, but the exchange of glimpses just doesn't stop.

In her bed, Alex cannot help but go over every decision she made during this impossible day. At some moments she is sure that she screwed up her life and Justin's; in other moments she thinks it is only fair to give him a chance; sometimes she curses herself for being too weak and not resisting; sometimes she curses Justin for, well, being him; sometimes she feels scared for what the future will do to them; and sometimes she feels excited for having a future with him. And the flutter she feels in her stomach when this last one comes to mind is a sign that giving him a chance outdoes the worries she can conceive. A smile escapes her lips and this is the last thing she remembers before sleeping.


	11. Rekindling

Chapter 11 - Rekindling

The next day comes with a much lighter air in the Russo home, at least for the older siblings. Alex has no idea how, but whatever Justin said to convince their parents that them both going out together was a good idea, it must have been an award-worthy performance. Well, maybe his state for the last few days had something to do with it.

As the morning passes, what Justin may have planned starts getting Alex nervous. Because he knows her so well … and let's face it, there's no bigger planner them him … what he has in mind for them could be epic.

They leave just before lunch. Justin's behavior gets Alex even more anxious than she was. He makes them stop at a small diner, insisting that they eat only a light snack for now. He says he has plans for later. Whatever! The only problem is that the food is simply delicious, Alex would like to eat a lot more, instead, she accepts his word. What is he planning? Some action, maybe?

Anyway, their time there is so pleasant. They have time to talk a little bit after they finish eating. And this time Alex actually listens to him. Looks like their time together taught Justin how to talk to her.

When they leave, Justin takes her to a protected alley. No, Alex knows he would not take her to an alley to hook up. And he does exactly what she thought he would do. He takes her hand to keep her close and waves his wand, pointing it up. They are teleported somewhere else, an open field that doesn't seem to have much around. Then she hears it, all the childish voices screaming just behind her, making her look there.

There it is, their next destination, a big amusement park next to the shore. She looks at him, surprised.

"I thought you would like to go to one in a place you haven't been banned from." He tells her.

She smiles at him, a bright and childish smile. Yeah, he really knows her.

She takes his hand and starts dragging him, trying to get there as soon as possible.

They get in and start playing right away. Justin makes them go to the game tents first. Yeah, Alex insisted in going to the rides, it would be fun to see Justin getting sick, but he just would not go. So she is left with following him to playing a few games. Anyway, now that they are doing this, she has never had this much fun with him.

About an hour later Justin finally takes her to the rides. They go to the roller coaster, the mirror house, the haunted house. They even go to a ride that puts them in a seat and flips them over and over for about a minute. When they come out Justin is surely dizzy … well, so is Alex, a little bit, but she doesn't tell him. They sit on a bench to take a few minutes until Justin regains his balance, and he cleverly uses the time to lean against her, holding her hand for support.

They stay in the park for a little over three hours, until Alex starts whining about being hungry and insists on getting something to eat. Actually he was just waiting for that because, yes, he prepared for it.

Justin takes her hand and they leave the park. He takes her somewhere, walking down the beach, where the sand dunes give place to some extension of grass and trees. Justin takes his wand and, after a quick look around to certify there is no one looking, waves it making appear a towel spread on the ground with a basket for the picnic he planned for them.

To be honest, Alex is not really a picnic type of person. Not that she hates it, but she prefers to be at home watching TV. But this is a date with Justin, so, no home allowed. And he obviously put some effort into it, not to mention that the place is absolutely wonderful. A picnic at the beach, some girls never have this chance. She is going to enjoy it.

Justin helps Alex sit and they start eating, and it seems like he was hungry too, taking by the way he eats his sandwich. Or maybe it is just "nervous-eating". Wow, he is just stuffing his face! Alex notices from the paper wrapping the sandwiches that they are from the same diner they went before the park. Justin didn't just make this appear, he prepared this basket himself.

"Wait, you prepared all this. Where did you keep it?" Alex asks, surprised.

"In the SubStation freezer." He answers.

"What!? What if anybody noticed?"

"Do you know how little time we spend in there? Especially that corner where Dad keeps the vegetables." Justin has a point in this one.

Well, they finish eating. Alex takes a few minutes to lean her head on Justin's shoulder while she looks at the sea and the beach. It's all so beautiful.

"Aren't you curious to know how we started dating in first place?" Justin finally breaks the silence.

"Not really." She says without lifting her head.

"Not even a little bit?" He says with a heavy tone, finally making Alex lift her head to look at him.

"Maybe a little bit." She answers.

Justin just stares at her. He is just waiting, he wants her to say it. His eyebrows lift, creasing his forehead, while he waits for her. And waits.

"Fine!" She says rolling her eyes.

Justin takes a long breath "When you won the Wizard of the Year, I got pretty mad at you."

"Yeah, that video was a very good sign." She lets out with a heavy heart.

"Sorry about that!"

Alex looks at him, squeezing her lips while she considers, and then nods to accept his apologies.

"After the ceremony I was still so mad." Justin continued. "But then I saw you, how bad you were feeling about how the whole break-up happened. And then I wasn't mad anymore, I just couldn't be. So when I calmed down I could see the situation for what it was, I realized how hypocritical I was acting."

"No, Justin…" She tells him, with a heavy heart.

"No! You don't have to go easy on me. I tried so much to be the Wizard of the Year. I made up all those plans of doing things that would make me look good for the Council. But truth is, you won by just being you, by doing what you thought was right. So you deserved it more than I did." Justin explains with a very felt voice.

"But most of the things I could only do because you were there, helping me. Doing the things I didn't know how to do." Alex cannot let him talk like this about himself, not when she knows how good he is, and how sweet and kind he is. "You are the sweetest and kindest person I know. And winning that prize wouldn't chance how amazing I think you are." For once, she doesn't mind about telling him this. She takes his hand in support, and doesn't let go.

"Anyways…" Justin continues. "…I couldn't leave things the way they were. So I made another video…" He says, reaching for his cell phone on his pocket. "…to tell you how I really felt."

"Couldn't you just tell me?" She goes for the obvious.

"Nope!" He shortly says while navigating his device. He quickly finds the video that stayed in its memory after the spell was cast. He hands Alex the device. She stares at it for a second and then plays it.

 _"Hey! … First I want to apologize for the video I made. I shouldn't have done that to you. I mean… I had no right to be hard on you for winning the prize. That was just the angry-for-not-winning part of me talking. What I should've said is that you won because you are the most obstinate person I know, you are a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for, and the kind of goodness in you is completely selfless, because despite of not being perfect or not even trying to be, when you think something is unfair, you do your best to correct it without thinking about yourself. And, for being that person, I'm proud of you, and I'm proud that the Council recognized that. What I'm saying is that you deserved every bit of it. And the fact that you got it for saving me, makes it special. Thank you for that."_

Alex drops the phone on her lap and takes a quick peek at Justin before looking back down at the item. Then she leans her head on his shoulder and wraps her arms around him. They stay like that, in silence, for a little while.

"That was what you did when I showed you this the first time." Justin says.

"Then what?"

"Then you cried a like bit. You held my hand really strong and could barely say thank you. Then I told you that the only reason you were on that situation was because you are amazing. And I made you smile, just a little. You asked me if I could say that again the next day to make you feel better, and that was all I wanted. So, I said it, every day. And you hugged me every time. We started getting closer and closer, and one day, instead of hugging, we kissed … kind of."

"Kind of?" Alex asks.

"It was weird. But it was definitely a kiss. From then on, we just got closer. One day you asked me if I wanted to kiss you again. You made fun of me but you definitely kissed back. And that started everything."

Alex doesn't say anything. No whines or sarcastic replies. She remembers very well what that kiss in the past did to her. And if that other kiss was anything similar, she wouldn't resist it.

Soon after, Justin makes the picnic disappear and the two walk back to the park. They have an ice cream and decide it is time to go back. Despite the incredible time they are having, they have spent too much time away from home.


	12. You Mean Our Date?

Chapter 12 – You Mean Our Date?

Alex and Justin arrive back at home. Instead of coming in through the SubStation, as they usually do, this time they use the side door that takes to the front door of the apartment. They close the door, hiding from the public eye of the street outside. Before they can start going up, Justin stops and holds Alex's hand.

"Alex! Did you …" He is a little afraid to ask, especially with her big brown eyes staring at him. "…did you like … what we did today?"

"You mean our date?" She knows he is afraid to call it that.

"Y.e.a.h!" his voice almost fails.

Alex pushes Justin against the wall of the narrow hallway and throws herself against him, passionately kissing his lips.

When she breaks apart, Justin can't even move, he just stares at her. She smiles at him, takes one step away and goes up the stairs. Justin stares at her back, and can only breathe again when she is out of his view. Then he slowly goes up, using the wall for support.

When he comes into the apartment, he finds Alex taking a big sip on a can of coke in the kitchen, and their mother comes down the stairs.

"So? How did it go?" Teresa asks them.

Only now Alex realizes that she never asked Justin what it was that he told their parents they were going to do.

So she makes her way to the stairs. "Yeah, Justin. Next time you decide to go out in one of your _'adventures'_ ," She let's out with some contept... "take a girl who would care if you took her to a picnic." When she gets to the stairs, she turns to him and winks.

"What was that all about?" Teresa asks Justin.

"Just something that came up while we were talking." Justin turns away from his mother and smiles to Alex's hint of a next date.

Dinner goes on mostly calmly, except for when Alex puts a fake little lizard on Justin's plate. She sneaks from behind him and puts it on while he was looking away. It does scare him a little bit. But, really, it was just to show him that nothing has changed in their every day relationship. He just gives her a mad face, their mother yells at Alex to knock it off and everything is fine.

While Justin is coming out of the bathroom after getting ready for bed, Alex pushes him against the wall and gives him a peck on the lips. "Good night!" She whispers on his ear and turns around to enter her room, only in a spaghetti strap tank top and panties. He knows she is just playing mind games, she doesn't wear this to sleep. Maybe her way of saying _"Try to sleep, now"_ or something like that. She wiggles her butt way too much not to be that. Then there is the way she looks at him when she closes the door. Oh, that mischievous look. Yup, not an easy way to go to bed. Yes, dating Alex only gives her new weapons to tease him. That happened the first time, surely it would happen now.

So, he stays there, tossing and turning until tiredness is almost taking him. He doesn't even hear his door getting opened and closed. Only the weight on the bed beside him awakens him. And an arm running up from his belly to his chest makes him turn to look. Certainly it is Alex, same outfit from earlier, starting to cover his body with hers.

Their faces, close to each other's, eye on eye contact. His heart is going a million miles per hour, now. The tiredness is completely gone. Alex lifts her wand close to their faces and enchants in a soft, sexy tone "What we are doing, no one can come between. Keep us unnoticed, unable to be seen." Her wand flashes, putting them under the spell.

"Why did you do that?" Justin asks.

"Why do you think, idiot?" She whispers back.

And, the moment he looks away as the intention sinks in to him, Alex brings back his face and kisses his lips. The hot make out session lasts a long time. Then they sleep, side by side, their bodies always in contact and the comfort of their heat calming their minds. Sure they could have taken this further, but they prefer not to rush and take their time evolving their relationship, at least for Alex to adapt to their new status. Not that Justin wouldn't be up to, or Alex for that matter, but everything has its right time.

A few weeks pass and in Alex's mind, it becomes clear that there is more to their relationship than ordinary family love. They are a couple, now. Anyway, it happens. They have their first night, well, another one. Their parents are out traveling for their anniversary. They planned everything. After Max goes to bed, Alex puts a spell on him, to make sure he would wake up only when they want. Harper is out visiting her parents, not on her own will, though. Alex had to play a lot of mind games after Harper's parents called saying they were missing her. Alex uses the "missing things" spell to find that underwear she was wearing in the past and, surprisingly, it works. She surprises Justin wearing it. It was all magical for Alex. Not for a second she thinks she is doing the wrong thing.

From there on, they are careful, but never stop having their quick moments of being a couple. Those moments of hugging and kissing that makes up for the moments they have to hide. Every date they have that makes everything worth it.

And it really does.


End file.
